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Next to their famous large, luxurious and fast automobiles such as the Dilambda, Astura, Aurelia and Flaminia, the Turinese firm has always produced attractive smaller luxury models, mainly intended for the European market - but a number of them were also exported to the USA. The Lancia Appia, built from 1953 up to 1963 was preceded by the Augusta (Belna in France) 1932 - 1936, and the Ardea 1939 - 1953, which looked like a scaled down Aprilia. The Appia was the last small car Lancia designed with their traditional sliding pillar independent front suspension and ultra-short four-cylinder V 4 engine. The name Appia was a tribute to the Via Appia, the historic Roman road which dates back to 312 BC. It connected Rome and Brindisi on the Adriatic coast in South Italy.